Biochemical Studies on Glycosaminoglycan-Related Toughness Changes in the Body Wall of the Sea Cucumber Stichopus Japonicus

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Kariya, Yutaka
Copyright Year	1999
Abstract	A.Introduction The body wall of the sea cucumber, composed of more than 90% of water, is easily and greatly hardened by heat, acid treatment, or even by stimulation from handling under physiological conditions(1,2). The last phenomenon is called"connective tissue catch"(3-10), which is specific not only to holothuroid but also to other classes of echinodermata. In self separation(autotomy), on the other hand, the body wall of the sea cucumber:softens and melts(7). Chemical(8)and rheological(9,10)analyses of the body wall have not provided any clue about the mechanisum involved, except the evidence that monovalent and divalent cations affected the body wall toughness in different ways(11). The present study was carried out to examine the effects of monovalent and divalent cations on the ultrastructure and toughness of the sea cucumber body wall as well as on the viscosity of glycosaminoglycan(GAG)isolated therefrom. In addition, the chemical structure of the sea cucumber GAG was precisely elucidated, in order to argue whether or not there is a possible relationshiop between the physicochemical properties of the sea cucumber GAG and peculiar phenomena observed in the holothuroid body wall as mentioned above.
Starting Page	215
Ending Page	219
Page Count	5
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.4052/tigg.11.215
Volume Number	11
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tigg1989/11/60/11_60_215/_pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.4052/tigg.11.215
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article